About those electric cars we all own
We as taxpayers own a good chunk of the Fisker Karma automobile company.
There was a bunch of them sitting on the dock after being imported from Finland (yes, our tax money went to bail out a foreign car company). Sandy came along and there was a bit of damage.
From
Jalopnik:
More Than A Dozen Fisker Karma Hybrids Caught Fire And Exploded In New Jersey Port After Sandy
Approximately 16 of the $100,000+ Fisker Karma extended-range luxury hybrids were parked in Port Newark, New Jersey last night when water from Hurricane Sandy�s storm surge apparently breached the port and submerged the vehicles. As Jalopnik has exclusively learned, the cars then caught fire and burned to the ground.
Our source tells us they were �first submerged in a storm surge and then caught fire, exploded.� This wouldn�t be the first time the vehicles, which use a small gasoline engine to charge batteries that provide energy to two electric motors, had an issue with sudden combustion.
The vehicle, despite only being in limited production, has already experienced numerous fires due to equipment failures and electrical shorts. How, exactly, they caught fire after being submerged in sea water is unclear. It�s possible the salt water caused a short that led to a fire.
Calls to Fisker and the Port Newark Container Terminal have not been returned as of publication time.
The photos at the site show a complete meltdown.
Posted by DaveH at October 31, 2012 8:07 PM